STABILITY AND GROWTH PACT

Budgetary rules agreed to by euro zone countries as a condition of joining the euro. The pact stipulates that all the countries will run a balanced budget in normal times. A government that runs a fiscal deficit bigger than 3% of GDP must take swift corrective action. And if any country breaches the 3% limit for more than three years in a row, it becomes liable to fines of billions of euros. The pact was supposed to be a powerful political symbol that euro-using countries would not cheat each other. However, Portugal became the first country to break the deficit limit by notching up 4.1% in 2001. When, in 2002, France and Germany also exceeded the 3% limit, some eu members were outraged and others lobbied for the pact to be modified or even scrapped.